Coming weekend marks 75 years for Love Airfield and ERAU
In 1913, ten years after Orville and Wilbur Wright launched the first successful flight of a gasoline powered airplane carrying a man, most of the residents of Arizona had never seen one of those new-fangled machines until they attended the first Northern Arizona State Fair.Held in Prescott the Northern Arizona State Fair brought exhibitors and participants from the five northern counties together for a grand regional fair. John Dougherty donated the use of his land for the fair grounds. The Yavapai County Chamber of Commerce and community members laid out a racetrack, erected buildings and a grandstand. The Santa Fe railroad ran special passenger trains from the downtown depot to the fair grounds for a fare of fifteen-cents a round trip.
Governor Hunt and his staff occupied the official's box during the opening ceremonies and Tom Mix, Director of Events, put on a dazzling display of horsemanship and trick riding to the crowd's delight but the special feature attraction everyone waited in anticipation for was the sky-born arrival of an airplane. "Here it comes, here it comes!" the Journal Miner reported of the crowds reaction when aviator L. F. Nixon hove into sight in his Curtis bi-plane. Nixon piloted his air bird to an astounding height of 1,000 feet and circled the fair grounds twice before returning to terra firma.
The main event of the 1914 fair was the appearance of Captain Hector Worden, a partner of the French Moisant Aviation Company, with a Moisant-Bleriot 100 horsepower monoplane, the first to be seen in Arizona. Aviator Tom Hill flew the airplane's demonstration flight launching from the south side of the fairgrounds with a ground start of barely 100 feet before the monoplane became airborne. That summer Prescott's air was so rarefied Hill could barely attain a height of 700 feet and was unable to exhibit the death-defying feats he usually performed in the monoplane from a height of 2000 feet.
1915 brought the arrival of Madam Lucielle Belmont and her balloon to our fairgrounds. Madam Lucielle rode astride a small framework on the balloon, ascended to a height of over 1500 feet and defied death in three different parachute leaps before safely reaching the ground.
In the early days of aviation airplanes were primarily flown for entertainment purposes and aviators toured the air show circuits demonstrating their airplanes and daredevil aeronautical stunts. Airplanes were tentatively used in the beginning of WWI as observer vehicles but rapidly developing technology in the aircraft industry soon produced transport planes carrying substantial tonnages and agile, well-armed fighters capable of aerial combat at two-mile high altitudes at speeds up to130 mph. After the war the airplane's potential as a civilian vehicle was realized.
In 1926 three milestone events occurred which would impact the future of civil aviation nationally and locally. The Air Commerce Act, the cornerstone of Federal government regulation of civic aviation and the forerunner of the Federal Aviation Agency, was passed. John Paul Riddle and J. Higbee Embry opened the Embry Riddle School of Aviation at Lunken airport in Cincinnati, Ohio and the Yavapai County Chamber of Commerce decided that a designated landing site was needed to accommodate the increasing number of aircraft following the iron compass (the railroads) to Prescott.
Prescott's first airfield was literally just that, a field located on ranch land near the Ash Fork Highway eight miles northeast of Prescott. It was marked with a large while circle containing two crudely leveled-out, 1000-yard long runways--one running east/west and the other, north/south--equipped with a windsock. Presumably the livestock and cow patties were cleared from the runways before the field's inaugural events began on July 4th, 1926 as part of the Northern Arizona State Fair and Prescott Frontier Rodeo Days.
The dedication of the field commenced when the Aero Queen, Miss Mabel Hixson, was flown to Phoenix to meet Mayor Frank Henderson who formally presented her with a letter of greetings and a vial of Phoenix atmosphere to release when she returned to Prescott for the purpose of adding Phoenix pep to the big affair.
An 'On to Prescott' race, sponsored and judged by the Professional Pilots Association, brought the arrival of civilian pilots Frank Clarke in his Canuck, Fred Hoyt in a Travelair, Howard Patterson in a Fleming and Leo Nomis in his monoplane. Stunt flier Al Johnson thrilled the crowds with wing walking and parachute jumping and Clarke flew over Prescott encircled by bursting fireworks. Army and Navy pilots put on a formation flying exhibition and Doc Pardee of bronc riding fame condescended to try a brief flight as a passenger in Clarke's airplane.
Adjusting his chaps and spurs Doc managed to stuff his bulk into the airplane's fuselage and got more than he bargained for when Clarke exhibited all his stunt flying finesse with loops, tailspins, falling leaves and spirals. It was reported that Doc left the grounds almost immediately after landing and could not be found again until late afternoon. Nobody dared to mention the word airsickness to Doc.
In 1928 the fledging airfield was rededicated and officially named. The County Engineer had the runways graded and members of the Chamber of Commerce, including Gail Gardner, took sacks of lime and marked out by hand a 100 foot circle where the runways intersected, then leveled with shovels the residual mounds left by the grader, filling up the hundreds of holes made by the resident prairie dogs.
The volunteer ground crew mounted a long metal pipe on a motorcycle hub to hold a wind sock, bought a great coil of rope and gathered up all of the old Model-T Ford axles in town to use as tie-downs for the anticipated hosts of aircraft invited to the dedication. They erected a speaker's platform, constructed a couple of very primitive comfort stations at a discrete distance from the public's point of observation and determined that the potential airport was ready for business.
Gail, Steve Spear, George Hill and Joe Eichbaum built a monument in front of the speaker's stand made of cement and colored rocks and embedded with a copper plated inscribed: "Dedication -Earnest A. Love airport-August 26, 1928."
By August 25th, Prescott's air space resounded with the drone of incoming aircraft. Seventeen Army planes from March and Fort Sam Houston fields, two Navy planes from San Diego, the Air Force show teams of six formation pilots from North Island flying single-seat pursuit planes, a big Ford tri-motor airplane owned by Scenic Airways and several additional civilian planes landed on the airfield, the greatest gathering of aircraft every seen at that time on an Arizona field.
Dan Fain presented to Otto Orthel, President of the Yavapai County Chamber of Commerce, a 10-year lease for the use of the airfield land and the little monument covered by an American flag was unveiled. Exhibition flights were flown all day long and fifty-cent raffle tickets for a free airplane rider were sold to raise money for a hangar.
In 1938 when the Fain lease expired, the City of Prescott had the foresight to buy sufficient land for a permanent airport that could handle the larger airplanes being built and allow room for future expansion. The City purchased 320-acres of land from the Perkins Cattle Company, the site of our present airport. In the late 1970s Embry Riddle School of Aviation, which had since changed to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University set up at the old Prescott College campus, only a stone's throw from the airfield. Mostly because of the school, today the Ernest A. Love Field is the eighth busiest non-hub general aviation airport in the country and the second busiest airport in Arizona.
Many events celebrating the airport's 75th anniversary have been canceled. However, Embry-Riddle will still have two public events in recognition of their 75th anniversary. Brigadier General Paul Tibbits will talk about his experiences as commander of the Enola Gay at 1pm Saturday and that evening at about 9pm the flying team Russian Thunder will have an aerobatic demonstration over the Prescott Resort.
(Terry Munderloh is a volunteer at the Sharlot Hall Museum)
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Sharlot Hall Museum Photograph Call Number: (uncataloged). Reuse only by permission.
Aviation history in Prescott reaches back clear to 1913. This aviation barn that was at the airport in the 1950s was another step from the dedication of the field in 1928 to Prescott having one of the busiest airports in the state.
